MOVIES THIS WEEK

By Howard Thompson

Published: June 16, 1996

GENTLEMEN - and ladies, too - may indeed prefer blondes, judging by the movie menu on television this week.

As for Paul Czinner's CATHERINE THE GREAT (1934) - so is the German actress Elisabeth Bergner. Her strong, restrained portrayal anchors this literate, British-made look at imperial Russia. Watch her assume command over her made royal consort, Peter (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.). Note her reaction when she asks a courtier if she can count on his loyalty: "Your Majesty," he sayd, "I have loved you from the first moment I saw you." No wonder - Sunday at 1 P.M. on the History Channel.

With its sly drollery - and some gleaming dialogue - Rene Clair's I MARRIED A WITCH (1942) gave Veronica Lake her juiciest role, via Thorne Smith's novel. As the reincarnated heroine, she weds a contemporary Salem mayor (Fredric March) and saves her identity confession for the nuptial chamber. "Ever hear of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire?" she asks March. "That was our crowd." - Wednesday at 1 P.M. on AMC.

Another surprise - surely one of the most intriguing movie fade-ins ever - is the first scene of Ernst Lubitsch's TO BE OR NOT TO BE (1942). See for yourself and prepare for a twist. Lubitsch's airy but earthy caper pairs Jack Benny and Carole Lombard, as Polish stage luminaries dodging the yoke of Nazi Occupation. Never did the delicious Lombard seem so pretty and bright as in this, her swan song - Monday at 9:30 P.M. on AMC.

Another blonde radiates in Alfred Hitchcock's REAR WINDOW (1954). Watching Grace Kelly in this corking good thriller, it's puzzling to realize that her trademark was cool stateliness. Here her vibrant charm as the modish, visiting fiancee meshes well with a taciturn James Stewart. Confined to a wheel chair, he glues binoculars on a murder suspect across a Greenwich Village courtyard. Quite a sight, Kelly and the courtyard both - Sunday at 4:30 P.M. and Sunday/Early Monday at 1 A.M. on TNT.